


International Cooperation

by exbex



Category: due South
Genre: F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-23
Updated: 2011-12-23
Packaged: 2017-10-27 22:02:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 543
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/300516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/exbex/pseuds/exbex
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>for tanyareed, who requested Meg and RayK, christmas tree ornament</p>
            </blockquote>





	International Cooperation

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TanyaReed](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TanyaReed/gifts).



It was two weeks until Christmas and Meg was holed up at the Consulate, absorbed in paperwork. This was not, however ironically, the cause of her distress. The actual cause of all of her current mental anguish was her guilt over the fact that she would rather find excuses to stay at work than go home to her invalided partner.  
Ray was a man prone to bursts of energy and frenetic excitement. Meg liked this about him when he wasn’t stuck at her apartment, his broken leg encased in a cast. But since he had managed to injure himself three weeks earlier, his energy had nowhere to go and he was slowly driving her insane.  
So it was with a certain amount of dread that she made her way home one evening, fully anticipating having to deal with a frustrated, almost sullen Ray.  
Instead she found an energetic, if somewhat furtive Ray nearly bouncing on his crutches, blocking the door to her office. “I uh, I’m gonna need the office for a few days. I moved all of the files you need out here to the living room.” He chewed on his bottom lip, which she knew was a sign that he was thinking and plotting. When she approached him to kiss him on his cheek, he smelled faintly of glue and she noticed flecks of red glitter in his hair.   
Meg was a woman who knew how to choose battles wisely, and if Ray had found something to occupy his time and keep both himself and Meg from going insane, she wouldn’t question it.  
Ray’s mood improved over the next few days, and he seemed to be adjusting well to his cast and feeling less pain. Meg even came home one evening to find him sitting at the kitchen table, rolling out dough for pierogi, flour in his spiked hair, the sleeves of his fitted t-shirt rolled up to reveal wiry muscles and his tattoo.  
The knowing smile he shot her made her forget about her feet hurting.  
The Christmas tree appeared one evening, settled into a corner of the living room. Ray was looking it up and down, his brow furrowed in an expression that Meg knew meant that he was making plans. Meg had discovered early that Ray was more fascinating to study when she mostly observed rather than asked questions, so she waited patiently.  
It wasn’t hard to decipher that Ray had plans for decorating the tree, but Meg couldn’t have anticipated the details.  
One week before Christmas, Meg returned to her apartment to find a smug Ray and a Christmas tree bedecked in red maple leaves. Crude but cute cardboard cutouts, some colored with markers, some decorated with glitter, delicate origami-like leaves, leaves of felt and cloth, sewn in interesting ways, even traditional glass ornaments with maple leaves painted on.  
Perched on the top, in the place of the traditional star or angel, was a decidedly brunette, rather familiar-looking, red-serge adorned, Mountie doll.  
Meg turned to find Ray in his Chicago Bulls t-shirt and draw-string sweats, slouching as well as one can on crutches. She closed the distance between them, lacing her fingers in his hair and kissing him softly. “You’re going to keep me young,” she murmured.


End file.
